Luther g



(No Model.)

L. G. BIL'LINGS.

TYPE WRITER CABINET.

Patented May 15, 1888.

l I I U4 trforneg N. FETKRS. Phaln-Lilhogmphor. Washmgton, D, C.

NITED STATES PATENT Orrrca.

LUTHER G. BILLINGS, OF XVASHINGTON, DISTRICT COLUMBIA.

TYPE-WRITER CABINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 382,942, dated May 15,1888.

Application filed October 24, 1887. Serial No. 253,240. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUTHER G. BILLINGS, a citizen of the United States,residing at \lVashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Type-W'riter Cabinets, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide a convenient and economicalcabinet for supporting a type-writing machine for use, and for inclosingor coveringit and removing it from view and dust and out of the way whennot in use.

I am aware that numerous inventions having a like object in view haveheretofore been patented, and many ofsuch inventions, in common withmine, have embraced a shelf or platform combined with a desk and havinga tilting movement to bring the typewriter into a horizontal plane foruse and to drop it into the desk or cabinet out of the way when nolonger needed for writing purposes.

My invention therefore consists in a typewriter cabinet having a tiltingshelf of the characterjust mentioned, but of peculiar con struction andoperation, as I will now pro ceed to set forth more particularly andfinally claim.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in the severalfigures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is afront elevation, partly broken out to show the catch for the shelf andthe hinge for the hinged top; Fig. 2, a crosssection; Fig. 3, aperspective view of the shelf detached; and Fig. 4, a perspective viewof one of the bearings detached.

The cabinet or desk A. nny be of any approved construction and design. Ihave shown it with a flat top, a, and two sides, b 12, provided withdrawers 0 c, with a recess, 66, between these said sides, and a back, 0,extending from side to side, and, preferably, from top to bottom of thedesk. The top a is provided with a hinged portion, a, covering therecess d, and capable of being folded back upon the top of one or theother of the sides.

f is the shelf or platform to receive and support the type-writingmachine. (Not shown, because well known and not of this invention.) Thisshelf is by preference a flat piece of framed board, of a size to fi tin the recess d, and it is provided with headed lateral lugs or journals9, which may be headed bolts or screws. These journals 9 are preferablyset in recesses g in the sides of the shelf so as to have their outersurfaces flush with the extreme level of the sides of the shelf, to gaina shelf of a width substantially equal to the width of the recess,whereby lateral motion of the shelf under the operation of thetype-writer is prevented, or, I

to express the fact positively, whereby the shelfis stayed laterally bythe walls of the re cess. These journals 9 are arranged at one side ofthe center of the shelf and nearer the front thereof, so that thegravity of the shelf tends to tilt the shelf out of a horizontal planebackwardly toward the rear of the cabinet. Bearings h for the journalsof the shelf are arranged upon the side walls of the recess, and thesehearings, in their simplest form,are flat pieces of metal having notchesz and recesses j in the rear of the notches to receive the shanks andheads of thejournals. The journals and their bearings are connected anddisconnected by a vertical movement of the shelf.

The headed journals engaging the notched and recessed bearings serve anadditional purpose in that they act as a brace or tie in connection withthe shelf to prevent the tiers of drawers from creeping away from oneanother, or, in other words, from warping out of position and so bindingthe shelf.

It is old in a knockdown bracket to support a shelf and at the'same timebind together the sides of the bracket by means of two headed screws oneachend of the shelf engaging recessed sockets in the sides; but I limitmy claim in this regard to a hinged shelf as distinguished from arigidlyheld shelf.

The shelf is held in horizontal position by a catch, 70, set in one ofthe side walls of the recess and adapted to engage a keeper, Z, shown asa slotted plate countersunk in one edge of the shelf. The catch k in itssimplest form is a strip of spring metal screwed at its lower end in arecess in the sidewall of the recess d and having a hook at its free endto engage automatically the keeper Z and be disengaged therefrommanually, though I do not limit my invention to this precise form ofcatch. The

ating it, as shown. Theshelf is allowed a fall within the recess (1 withits bearings as a center sufficient to lower the top of the typewriterbelow the top of the cabinet, and thus permit the hinged portion a to beplaced in position to close the top of the recess, and thereby make thetop of the cabinet continuous and level throughoutits length. Atthepoint of lowest descent of the shelf necessary to this end is arranged astationary shelf, m, projecting forwardly from the back of the cabinet.This shelf at, together with the tilting shelf, the back of the cabinet,the hinged top there: of, and the side walls of the same, make aninclosing case for the type-writer when not in use.

My construction of type-writer-supporting shelf, especially with respectto thejournals and bearings thereof, enables one to bodily remove theshelf without trouble, and simply by lifting up the shelf out of itsbearings. This facility of removal of the shelf will be found of decidedadvantage and convenience when the desk is to be used as such, forexample, bya penman.

Buffers n n are arranged on the side walls of the recess to aid insupporting the shelf when down. So, also, a buffer or buffers, 0, may bearranged on the back of the cabinet to receive the upper edge of theshelf when up or in horizontal position, these buffers acting as stopsfor the shelf. The buffers may be disks or blocks of rubber or otheryielding sub stance.

The shelff serves as a lever for raising the type-writer into positionfor use, and it is man-.

ually operated to this end, and when so raised the catch itautomatically engages the keeper Z and retains the shelf in suchposition. The machine is returned to the recess d when no longer neededfor use by simply releasing the catch, and thus permitting gravity toact under control of the operator, the buffers n n preventing anyserious jar to the shelf and machine should they slip out of control.

When the shelf is down, as indicated by dot ted lines, Fig. 2, and fulllines, Fig. 1, and the top portion, a, is also brought over the recess,as indicated in both of said figures, they may be locked together by anysuitable lock, 1), for example, a pianolock, and thus preserve themachine from use by unauthorized persons.

In my type-writer cabinet I dispense with all those weights and jointedlevers and other like complications common to other existing cabinetsfor type-writers for the connection of hinged top for such recess, ashelf or platform for the machine pivoted between its ends in saidrecess, a catch to engage said shelf and retain it in horizontalposition, and a lock to connect the hinged top and shelf in position ofdisuse, substantially as set forth.

2. The desk or cabinet A, having the recess d, combined with the shelff,pivoted in said recess by means of the lateral journals 9, per manentlyattached to said shelf and provided with heads, and the notched bearingsh, secured to the sides of the recess and into which the headed journalsare detachably fitted to not only allow the shelf to be swung or rotatedupon itsjournals, but also to permit the shelf and its attached journalsto be removed bodily from the desk at pleasure, and serving, further, tobrace or tie together the sides of the desk when in place, substantiallyas described.

3. The desk or cabinet A, having the recess (1 and a movable top forsuch recess, combined with the shelff, operable independently of the topand pivoted between its ends within the said recess by means of theheaded journals permanently attached to the sides of the said shelf, andthe notchcd'or countersunk bearings h, secured to the sides of therecess and receiving the headed journals to tie together the parts ofthe desk and permitting the free movement of said-journaled shelf withinand out from them, and a catch, all constructed and arrangedsubstantially as described.

4. The desk or cabinet A, having a recess, (1, combined with agravitating shelf, itsjournals, and bearings arranged in said recess, acatch, a stationary shelf, m, and buffers 12 and 0, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set ny hand this 21st day ofOctober, A. D. 1887.

LUTHER G. BILLINGS.

Witnesses:

WM. H. FINCKEL, HARRY Y. DAVIS.

